Environmental tobacco smoke exposure in public places of European cities

Abstract

Background: Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) has important public health implications. The results of the first European multi-centre study that measured ETS exposure in a range of public places (transport, educational settings, and leisure facilities such as bars and restaurants) are presented. Method: Nicotine vapour phase was measured using ETS passive samplers containing a filter treated with sodium bisulfate. Results: Bars and discos are the places with the highest concentrations of nicotine from ETS, median ranging from 19 to 122 mg/m 3 . Restaurants had the next highest values. Concentrations of nicotine generally range from 0.1-5 mg/m 3 in airports, and from 0.5-10 mg/m 3 in train stations. Nicotine was also found in schools and universities, yet schools tended to have the lowest concentrations compared to all the other public places sampled. In hospitals levels were generally below 5 mg/m 3 . Conclusions: Although there is some variability between cities, this study shows that tobacco smoke is present in most of the studied public places. The study also showed that in areas where smoking is prohibited, concentrations of nicotine are lower than in areas where smoking is allowed but they are not zero. The results of this study indicate that policies should be implemented that would effectively reduce levels of tobacco smoke in public areas.

No Borders for Tobacco Smoke in Hospitality Venues in Vienna

“…Earlier studies reported high concentrations of nicotine, fine and ultrafine particulates in the indoor air of hospitality establishments [4][5][6], a correlation between air nicotine and active particle surface [7], with relatively highest exposures in Vienna in international comparison [4], but a systematic exposure assessment in comparison with outdoor concentrations over several months was lacking.…”

Exposure to environmental tobacco smoke in German restaurants, pubs and discotheques

“…An exposure study in seven European cities demonstrated the highest nicotine concentrations in bars and discotheques compared to other public places such as train stations or universities (Nebot et al, 2005). Pubs and discotheques are essential exposure sites for adolescents and young adults.…”

Second-hand smoke exposure in a sample of European hospitals

“…It was not possible to survey more locations for operational reasons. However, this distribution of samples provided a good estimate of SHS levels in a previous study [5], and prevents an excessive variety of locations, which would make comparisons by location across countries unfeasible. Finally, there was a failure to obtain outdoor measurements for comparison with in-hospital measurements, although, given the low levels obtained indoors, the comparison group would have been almost useless.…”

“…A pioneering study that measured airborne nicotine concentrations in 22 hospitals in seven European cities (Vienna (Austria), Paris (France), Athens (Greece), Florence (Italy), Porto (Portugal), Barcelona (Spain) and Ö rebro (Sweden)) during 2001-2002 showed low but detectable SHS exposure in hospitals [5,18,19]. Similar surveys conducted in 11 Latin American countries and China, including one hospital in each country between 2002 and 2006, also showed low but quantifiable nicotine concentrations [20][21][22][23].…”

“…To date, few studies have used direct measurements of SHS to monitor the accomplishment of the smoke-free hospital policy [5,6]. Exposure to SHS has been measured by various methods, such as questionnaires (based on self-reports) and markers of SHS, namely substances found in tobacco smoke (such as nicotine) that can be measured in body fluids (urine, blood and saliva) or in the air to provide an objective measure of SHS exposure [7].…”